Integrity – The Virtue of Virtues 325Professional and institutional codes of Ethics^246 , Committees for re-
search in Ethics within Higher Education Institutions and Hospitals,
sanctions against plagiarism, religious worship activities, religious and
moral teaching in schools, education within the family, anti-corruption
posters in airports, documentaries on public personalities or unknown
individuals whose exemplary behaviours can serve as models for others.
26.8 Integrity as Political and Economic Reference
in Nation Building
In order to enforce integrity and building an institutional culture
based on integrity, we shall consolidate the political, economic, and ju-
diciary foundations, enforce sanction mechanisms against any trespass-
ing of these values, and create incentives for those setting examples of
promoting such values. Integrity can be reinforced through constitutions
and laws which are respected through proper implementation and con-
trol measures. A transparent, trustworthy, fair electoral system, financed
and supported in an appropriate manner, under the surveillance of an
independent committee for elections (as in the case of the CENI in
DRC) can also contribute a lot to reinforce the implementation of integ-
rity. Integrity needs a solid judiciary system, run by independent judges
who are free of corruption, and a trustworthy police force, etc. The non-
governmental organisation “IntegrityAction” defines public integrity as
follows: “Public or organisational integrity is the set of characteristics
that justify trustworthiness and generate trust among stakeholders. Integ-
rity creates the conditions for organisations to intelligently resist corrup-
tion and to be more trusted and efficient. IntegrityAction takes integrity
to be the alignment of four factors: Accountability, Competence, Ethics
246
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articles?layoutPlid=4297674.